Serenity II: Still Flying, For Now
by AimToMisbehave
Summary: Set after BDM, the Alliance has hired several bounty hunters and Alliance Officials to recover Serenity and it's Crew in order to bring them to 'justice' after their wave about Miranda. Better summary inside...
1. Back Into The Black

**Author's Note:** Hey there fellow Browncoats, it's nice to see that I'm not the only person out there that would like to burn Fox to the ground for getting rid of what I like to think of as the greatest TV Show ever thought up. This story takes place after the film that Universal Studios was kind enough to bless us with.

Unfortunately, this also means we will be forced to withstand a story without Wash. I know, this was one of the very few things that I might actually argue with Joss Whedon about. Whom, in case you didn't know, owns these characters, so please don't sue this poor college student that just wants to share his story and Serenity Sequel idea with his fellow Browncoats.

For the record, our new main character, Major Jonathan Hayes, has always and will always be envisioned as Ryan Reynolds for me. I don't know, he just fits the bill for me, so, if you find yourself asking, "What does Hayes look like?", thats who he looks like. With every new character, I will try and throw out an actor that I envision the character as, I find that when you have that sort of reference point for a character, you can envision him along side guys like Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau and Adam Baldwin just a little bit better. So, thats the main reason I'll throw that out there for you guys.

**Plot Summary:** We rejoin the crew of Serenity just a few days after leaving the former Operative of the Alliance. True to his words, the Alliance is not forgiving, and have decided to launch a full on assault against Malcolm Reynolds and his crew. With the 'verse in a state of shock, they couldn't do this in the public's eye, so they have hired several bounty hunters and high ranking members of the government itself to bring Reynolds and the rest of Serenity's crew in for punishment.

Chapter 1 - Back in the Black

Cold.

Thats what it felt like in a room surrounded by the filth who called themselves bounty hunters.

They didn't feel for anybody. All they cared about was the paycheck. It didn't matter who they killed or kidnapped, just that they got paid for it. Not like Jonathan Hayes.

Hayes has long been one of the brighter aspects of the Alliance. Trained from a young age, he was just under the level of an Operative, and the only reason the Alliance hadn't promoted him to that status was in order to continue his position of poster boy for most of the 'verse to look at as the perfect soldier for the Alliance.

But now, he was being asked to be no different than the common thug.

"As I'm sure you've seen," started General Gregory Kontos, "Not only has the information regarding the use of the PAX on Miranda been broadcasted throughout the 'verse, but the Alliance has taken a deep blow from the public over it."

Everybody had heard the tale. The true reason the Reavers roamed the black, looking for their next raiding grounds. The fact that the Alliance had been behind the whole thing? That just didn't sit well with folk, even in an age where people are more and more pro-Alliance.

"What you don't know, is that the message was broadcasted by one crew on a certain ship" continued Kontos.

Behind him, the images of eight people showed up on the large display.

Reynolds, Malcolm.

Washburne, Zoe.

Wasburne, Hoban. (Deceased)

Serra, Inara.

Cobb, Jayne.

Frye, Kaywinnit Lee.

Tam, Simon.

Tam, River.

"Hoban Washburne was killed during a battle prior to the broadcast. But the remaining seven are your targets. River Tam is your top priority. Both she and her brother Simon Tam have had previous warrants out for their arrest, but if you expect to be paid in full, you best bring in all seven for their immediate sentencing" said Kontos.

Hayes watched the bounty hunters mutter about the money. Hayes was here because he was the best, and Kontos didn't want another situation like what happened with the last man on their tail. He gave up. He let them walk away. Hayes had to remedy that mistake. He had to bring these criminals in, every last one of them.

According to Kontos and the rest of the board, these seven outlaws were monsters. Especially the Tam girl. They said she was the kind of terrorist that we only imagine in our nightmares. Could do things that could destroy the civilization that the Alliance had worked so hard to preserve.

Hayes had no idea who these people were and why they were such a threat outside their obvious ability to broadcast waves that didn't make the Alliance look so shiny, but if his superiors said they were high level threats, then that is exactly what they must be. Why would the Alliance lie about something like that?

Across the 'Verse, Mal Reynolds was just trying to get his little pilot to set a course.

"Look, just set the course!" shouted Mal.

River simply rolled her eyes.

"You still haven't told me wether to set the fastest course or the safest course. I set the fastest course, and you became angry because of our proximity to the Alliance. I set the safest course, and you became livid because of the estimated time for arrival" replied River in her usual River-ous tone.

For a second, Mal wasn't sure what to say. She had a point.

"I know I do, you are the one behaving irrational, Captain" quipped River.

"Hey there Albatross, you don't need to be having talks with my mind. My mind has no place in this conversation!"

River tilted her head.

"Thats not what I, you know, mean. Just set the course, Albatross!" shouted Mal over his shoulder as he left the bridge.

Rivera shook her head and giggled. Getting the Captain into a frenzy was her new favorite game.

Mal made his way way past the engine room, not stopping, but still managing to shout at Simon and Kaylee whom he didn't even have to look at to know they were fooling around yet again.

"She can't do her job if you have her on her back, Doc!"

The Captain wasn't necessarily okay with the relationship between his mechanic and medic, after all, we all know about the on-ship relationship rule. You know, the one that nobody pays attention to? But he sure liked seeing Kaylee happy. And if she was happy, Simon was happy. Which when Simon was happy, that meant the crew had to suffer through less and less of his, well, lets call it 'Simon-like Behavior'.

As he stepped into the cargo bay, he noticed Jayne doing his usual workout.

The Captain and the Merc weren't the best of friends, but since the untimely departures of Sheppard Book and Wash, the two had a solid unspoken agreement to have each other's back. Especially with Zoe still on the mend from the loss of her husband. She was a fine actor, putting on a show that she was ok, but the Crew knew better.

"You find us a job yet? I'm itching for a little gunplay, Mal" asked the Man-Ape-Gone-Wrong-Thing.

Mal winced at the topic. It had only been a week or so since the whole Miranda incident, but word travelled fast. Almost every person they could have worked for had heard about their little stunt. And as smugglers, that took almost every illegal job out of the picture because everybody knew that Serenity would be on the Purple-Belly Radar from now on. And the honest jobs? Well, it doesn't look like they want to deal with the former Browncoat or his crew either.

"No, things are looking mighty scarce. Badger hung up on me right after getting my wave" said Mal as he sat down.

Jayne sat up. He knew that they did the right thing about Miranda, but it was sure putting a hurt on them job wise.

"We could always trade the Moonbrain and the Doctor in, they'd fetch us a pretty penny" said Jayne.

The Captain shot the Hero of Canton a look.

"Or, you know, not. I don't see why we gotta be so gorram loyal to them. It'd be mighty shiny if we could eat you know, it ain't like we're rolling in the money here, Mal" said Jayne.

"You've been fixed up a time or two by Simon. Thats enough to be loyal in my book. Besides, we turn them in, and there ain't no reason why they'd let us walk away with coin in our pockets, Jayne. Even you know better than that. We're all in the same boat now" said Mal, knowing the road was dark up ahead.

Jayne grunted. "Thats what I was worried about, gorram feds are going to be gunning for us now!"

The Captain got up, seeing the shuttle door to the Companion's shuttle open.

"Well, no good deed goes unpunished. You weren't real sanguine that we'd walk away unscathed did you? You put the hurt on them, and they're sure to put it back on you tenfold" said Mal, leaving Jayne to his workout.

Making his way of the stairs, Mal couldn't help but wonder when Inara would finally snap and put her foot down. His lack of planet-side ventures since Miranda had certainly hurt her ability to meet with customers. In fact, he was pretty sure it had brought her trade to a halt, and even though the two had made an unspoken agreement to be more agreeable, he was a mite worried that she'd explode at any given moment.

She came out, robes dragging behind her. He could help but think how that was a mighty fast way to get her fancy get-up nice and dirty, the ship wasn't the cleanest place in the 'verse after all.

"Something funny, Captain?" asked the Companion as Mal chuckled a little bit.

Captain Tightpants was caught a bit off guard. "Funny? No. Umm, just, yeah, no."

Inara raised her eyebrows, "Do we have a course set? Or should I continue to put my clients on hold?"

"Well, we are heading towards Ferras. I don't know how many, umm, clients you can muster up, and I can't exactly tell you that we'll stay there longer than we need to, given we're really only stopping to replenish the food stores our resident Merc is complaining about-"

"Hey! A man has to eat!" shouted Jayne from below.

"- and our fuel is a little lower than we would like. Right now, it just isn't safe for us to stay in one spot too long. Alliance likely has us pegged as terrorists or something along those lines, and they're probably just aching to board this boat and give us a heap of trouble for filling the rest of the 'verse in on their dirty little secret" finished the Captain.

For a second, Inara opened her mouth with a look in her eye that reminded Mal of when she accused him of purposely keeping her off the job not long ago. But Inara quickly closed her mouth, and gave him a small nod.

"It's all to be expected after Miranda" she said.

Mal was once again caught off guard. But Zoe abruptly showed up to end this conversation before it could go south.

"Sir, River is calling you. Sounds like the com system is down again. We might have to get the hose and spray down the Doctor so Kaylee can get to work on it before too much longer" quipped Zoe.

The Captain just sighed, and ran his hand through his hair. He made the march towards the bridge, intending to stop by the engine room and tell Kaylee about the com system before he had to deal with the little Albatross again.

"Doc? Kaylee? Can I come in without being blinded for life?" he asked cautiously

Kaylee rolled her eyes, "Cap, you know me better than that."

It was Mal's turn to roll his eyes, muttering under his breath, "Tell that to the day I met you."

"I need you to take a look at the com system, 'parently it's down again. Doc's sister been squawking for me, and I didn't hear her yet again. On second thought, nevermind. Just leave it. Wait, no, yeah, fix it" said the Captain as he debated with himself.

"I don't know wether to be offended or to agree with him" said Simon, earning a smack from Kaylee.

Not wanting to watch their fluffy banter, Mal made his way to his pilot to see what her problem was.

"You need something, Little One?"

River turned her head with a serious look. "We've got trouble..."

**Author's Note:** I worry about the characters sounding as they should. So, if anybody has some advice like 'so and so should say things like this more often' or anything, I'd be more than happy to adjust accordingly. I'm used to writing for an entirely different brand of dialogue, so it should be a transition for me.

Bring on the flaming if thats what you feel about my story thus far, constructive criticism is always welcome. And if you want to praise me, well, ok! I will put up with that! Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and assume that's just not going to happen anytime soon. Just hit me up with what you liked, what you didn't like, suggestions. I'm used to working on a team of writers and idea-men, so bring it on. I love that sort of thing.

BTW, General Kontos would ideally be played by John Turturro.


	2. Out Of The Henhouse, Into The Wolf’s Den

**Author's Note:** Well, we got some good reviews. That's a good thing. But before we get on with the story, I'm going to go ahead and respond to them and then we'll be on our way.

-- **RionaEire** - No worries there. I fully intend to have River be just as crazy as usual. I just didn't want to dive into each character very far to avoid losing the 'lets check in on everybody and how they are doing' feel I was going for in that last bit there. River will spout crazy thoughts no different than usual, but I didn't really want to go beyond the interaction I gave right there. So, yeah, River, WILL be crazy. No worries there.

-- **Writtenwordlover** - Yeah, I like the opportunity that that Hayes will bring, though remember, he's not a bounty hunter like our friend Jubal Early (whom, may or may not have been present at that meeting, and may or may not appear regardless of his presence at the meeting), he is a Major with the Alliance. But the bounty hunters will come into the picture, just not as prominent as Hayes will be over the course of the story.

Ugh, I was hoping I wouldn't have to say this, this soon. But, Mal and Inara? Don't count on it. A, do any real fans ever see those two putting their pride aside and admitting they want each other? And B, there is another pairing for Mal that I'm a little more fond of. Not going to reveal that just yet.

As for River, see above. And Zoe will have a, well, I'm going to go with 'interesting' storyline. She isn't just going to mope around and the like, she is going to be the 'Warrior Woman' that Wash loved to brag about and her grieving will only make that more intense as the story goes on. But like with River, I really wanted to just zoom in and check on everybody rather than get into too much detail about them.

-- **B****harned1** - Yeah, I thought he needed more twang too. Trouble is that I find myself wondering when it becomes too much, I mean, one draft sounded like a Dukes of Hazzard episode, lol. And then one draft, he sounded like a city boy. It's going to take some trial and error, but I'll get there eventually. Just hang with me.

Everybody will get their quirks. Thats one thing I love about these characters. Kaylee is so cheerful, River is so crazy, Jayne is so gruff, Inara is so 'regal', Zoe is so scary, lol, Mal and his quips, Simon and his constant 'boobness', Wash was always so goofy and clueless sometimes, and even Book and his '...reserved for child molesters and people who talk at the theatre' type responses. No worries there, I can't wait to get the characters all quirked up.

-- **Gwenfrewi72** - Just like with the Mal's voice thing, I had alot of body language and the like in some drafts. And I was debating with myself wether it was too much. Sometimes a story can be so thrown off when people focus too much on it, and I was worried about being one of those stories. So, in a move to be extra cautious, I cut almost all of it out. But like the voice of Mal, our Captain Tightpants, hang with me, I'll even it out.

**Plot Summary:** We rejoin the crew of Serenity just a few days after leaving the former Operative of the Alliance. True to his words, the Alliance is not forgiving, and have decided to launch a full on assault against Malcolm Reynolds and his crew. With the 'verse in a state of shock, they couldn't do this in the public's eye, so they have hired several bounty hunters and high ranking members of the government itself to bring Reynolds and the rest of Serenity's crew in for punishment.

Chapter 2 - Out Of The Hen House, Into The Wolf's Den

_Mal made his way to his pilot to see what her problem was._

_"You need something, Little One?"_

_River turned her head with a serious look. "We've got trouble..."_

"Trouble?" asked the Captain quietly. Almost as if he could make it disappear by not saying too loud.

Mal shifted in his place and closed his eyes, mustering up a little hope that she might reply something like they were out of waffles and Jayne was getting hungry after his workout.

Little River spun in her chair to face her captain, face hadn't looked this serious since that bar fight she'd started. Mal stepped back in slight fear before she opened her mouth, "More trouble than the time the Independent Squad outflanked us with dinosaurs, causing me and Simon to eat our own men!"

What to say. These were the only words Mal could think of in that moment. Independent Squad? Dinosaurs? Eating their own men? What the hell was the little albatross talking about?

"It's not important, Alliance pegged us for terrorists. Want to bring us in. Warrants on the Cortex" replied River, easily reading the thoughts in Mal's mind.

"'K, first off, what did I tell ya about the mind reading?" asked the Captain.

The youngest Tam simply rolled her eyes. She did that a lot these days.

"Second, why is this so important? You two been on the want since the day you got on my boat. How's this different from any other day?" asked Mal as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Rather than tell him flat out, River twirled back in her chair, pulled up the warrants for each one of them on the screen.

"Umm, well, thats new" muttered the Captain.

Right there. Plain as day. Seven of the seven people on his boat, 'magine that, were starring back him.

"Worth more than you" giggled River. How she went from dead serious to little girl form so quick, he'd never know.

Before he could reply, she pointed to the reward. She was easily worth three times as much as he was.

"Before you get all proud, I 'spect it's only because you were already on their list, Little One. If I broke out of some, fancy, trainer camp type thin- you know what, thats not the point!" shouted Mal, realizing he was actually defending why he was worth less to the Alliance with his young pilot.

Jayne took this moment to walk into the cockpit.

"What the hell you yelling 'bout Mal? Crazy trying to fly us into a moon? I told you, she ain't fit to be flying this thing" said Jayne, but when River glared daggers at him, he managed to keep his mouth shut.

Mal wasn't sure what to do. He'd been used to this life. Carrying two fugies on his boat meant he skipped past a lot of jobs that he might have taken otherwise. Stopped on some moons he might have been able to find jobs on. But all of them? It was certainly going to bring things to a screeching halt. Had he really gotten himself and his crew this far in the hole?

"What the hell is that!" shouted Jayne, Mal jumped at this abrupt sound, River seemed to know it was coming and didn't even give an indication that she heard him.

Jayne pushed past Mal to look at his warrant. Well, there goes the 'dont tell them' idea the Captain was thinking up.

"Why am I on the cortex?! Gorram it, I'm a terrorist?! What the hell is going on Mal!" shouted Jayne.

The Captain sighed, trying to think of the best way to approach this.

"Uh, well, from the lookin' of things, sounds like maybe you can get that ole reward you were talking about earlier, just, by turning your own self in, stead of the moonbrain and doc?" said Mal.

Just before Jayne's head exploded, Major Jonathan Hayes received a wave halfway round the 'verse.

"We have a source that says Reynolds and his crew are heading towards Ferras. It's a small moon. Mostly used for a pitstop for ships in need of fuel and or supplies" said General Kontos.

Hayes nodded, but knew the moon was days away at best. He had to hope Serenity was staying a while, or just as far out as he was.

"Have you notified the others, sir?" questioned Hayes.

"Not yet. I wanted to give you the chance to bring them in without any unnecessary complications" replied Kontos.

Hayes knew this was Kontos way of saying they wanted to see if he could live up to the challenge.

"I will bring them in, sir. If I may ask, whom was the source?"

"A nobleman. Serra is a companion, and she notified the moon that she would be docking there soon. I doubt Reynolds had a chance to see the warrants we've put out, and she called ahead to find work" said the General.

"You placed warrants on the cortex, sir? Wouldn't it have been wiser to let them think they're just fine, let them walk into a trap rather than alert them? I hear Reynolds is quite gifted at avoiding permanent trouble, after all, we've all read the report about Serenity Valley, sir" said Hayes.

"Are you questioning me Major?"

Hayes was a bit surprised at his superior's reaction. It was foolish to have posted warrants, Reynolds would now know they were coming. From the intel he had gathered, Reynolds was not a fool. He didn't happen onto Miranda, and he surely isn't moving without a plan. This was a bad move.

"Of course not, sir."

"We want these people, Hayes. They are a direct threat to the Alliance, and however they need to be brought in, that is what will have to happen. Remember who you answer to, report back when you near Ferras." snapped the General.

"Yes, sir"

And the wave was terminated.

The General turned to his staff, "Did you get Early up to speed yet? He's the best shot we've got outside Hayes."

"Yes, his beacon was weak and it took a lot to bring him back 100, but he should be able to get back to the chase as we speak, sir." replied one of the staff members.

"Good. Early has been our best asset since day one, and he narrowly acquired the target before. Between him and Hayes, I believe we will finally reacquire the Tam girl and reinsert her into the program" said Kontos.

And then, we got back to Jayne's head exploding.

"Turn my own self in?! Are you out of your gorram mind?!" shouted Jayne.

"See now, I am the Captain of this boat, I do not appreciate bein' yelled at by an overgrown monkey!" shouted Mal.

"Well, maybe if you actually did a little captainin' instead of lettin' strays and crazies run the place, we wouldn't have our gorram names on the gorram fed list!" shouted Jayne.

River just looked from person to person. Watching them scream. After reading Jayne's mind, she knew that he wasn't really mad at Mal, just afraid. And people called her crazy.

"Would you two knock it off!" shouted Zoe, whom of course, just entered the cockpit.

"Zoe! He went an got us stuck with the Moonbrain! They want us too now! We're all fugies!" shouted Jayne.

"I am two feet away you idiot, no need to yell at me! I'm right here!" shouted Zoe. "We all knew the consequences when we got on this boat and marched our way through Reaver territory to crash land at Mr. Universe's and broadcast that damn wave 'cross the 'verse. Stop acting so surprised!"

Both Jayne and Mal shut up real fast. This was kind of the first real show of emotion anybody had seen from Zoe.

"What we need to do, is figure out where we go from here" said Zoe.

Mal nodded. "If they're after all of us, they're going to track all of us. That means..oh, no. Inara" breathed Mal.

The captain booked his way to the shuttle, hollaring her name at the top of his voice.

"What the, what Mal?" she asked as she came rushing from her shuttle. "What's wrong?"

"You didn't book any clients did you? You didn't, you didn't tell anybody where we are or where we're going did you?"

Inara rolled her eyes. "Captain, I don't need your jealousy right now, this is very beneath you!"

Shocked, Mal was speechless. How could she think this is about him being jealous? How could she, "They're after all of us!"

"Who is after us?"

"The flying frisbee cover band" muttered River as she walked by.

"The flying what?"

"The Alliance! They put warrants out for all of us, if you told anybody anything, they could relay word to them!"

She suddenly understood what he was saying. And she booked four 'dates' in Ferras and told several people that she was expecting to be in Ferras within the next few days.

"I...yes, I, I have clients that I've, yes, people know we're coming." she whispered.

"Gorram it to hell!" shouted Jayne, whom had be badly eavesdropping. We say badly because, well, everybody knew he was.

Mal began to panic. "If they knew, if they knew we'd be here soon, they could know we're coming. They could figure out where we are right now. Judging by those reward figures-

"Which mine was higher" quipped River, whom was walking across the arm rail between the two shuttles.

"-then they're sending the big guns. They're not playing around, this is big" said the Captain.

"We need to run, now" said Zoe.

"Where? We only decided on Ferras because it's the one place with the least 'mount of Alliance patrol within range of our fuel stores. We run for another place, boats likely to go on the float" said Mal.

So now Mal, Zoe, Inara, Jayne, and a cat-walking River sat. Unable to come up with an answer.

"If we remain in the henhouse, the wolf is bound to come in and find us" said River.

"What in the hell is Moonbrain talking about?" asked Jayne.

"If we stay out in the black, sooner or later, the Alliance will find us" snapped Mal.

Jayne simply nodded, and then looked around to see if anybody else knew that's what she meant. Apparently not, because Zoe and Inara had equally surprised looks on their face. River simply looked pleased.

"Can we make it back to Jiangyin or Greenleaf? We have safe holding in St. Albans. Minimal Alliance presence there, in case you don't remember, we had to go hours out of our way for the Sheppard" asked Zoe.

Everyone looked to River, who simply shook her head.

"So, we've got just enough gas to make it to the one gorram place the feds will be sitting and waiting for us? That's, that's just a grand ole plan now isn't it?" said Jayne, clearly unhappy with the situation.

"Well Jayne, you could always get out an push" quipped River.

Which earned her a glare, and a threat.

"I guess we're walking into the Wolf's Den..." decided the Captain.

Meanwhile, the Wolf was trying to make out what to expect when he reached Ferras.

"I'm a little worried about this Reynolds character. I know that the Tam's are the primary threat, but the Captain seems to be quite the veteran. After Serenity Valley? Still out here making noise? Must be one hell of a man." said Hayes to one of the members of his team.

His pilot turned his way. "Reynolds? You mean Mal Reynolds?"

"Malcolm. Yes, you've heard of him?" asked Hayes, interested in this mysterious Captain.

"I met him a few times, really something. He's a smuggler, kind of the small time for you folks to be getting involved I think, must of taken something pretty shiny this time. Hope he spent his money all up" said the pilot.

What to make of this. "Used to run with a friend of mine, go by the name of Monty. Always talked highly of Mal, he's a Browncoat through and through. Never took sides myself, but this was the kind of guy you'd follow into a fight for sure, sounds like he's picking bigger fights these days though. He was a good guy from what I saw"

"Yes, your friend-" started Hayes.

"He ain't no friend of mine, I just knew that man!" shouted the pilot, not wanting to be in the middle of this.

"Well, either way, he stole Alliance secrets, and he is harboring six fugitives, not including himself. Is this going to be an issue for you? Do I need to find another pilot? We cannot afford mistakes when we arrive on Ferras" asked Hayes.

The Pilot simply shook his head. "No issue here. Just surprised to hear he's in trouble, well, not so much trouble, always in trouble that one. But that he'd be on the radar of someone so high up, 's all."

Hayes accepted this, and left the cockpit to catch some sleep. Ferras was only another 20 or so hours away, and he needed to be at 100 when they arrived. But he couldn't help but think about the comments his pilot made.

"_This was the kind of guy you'd follow into a fight for sure..._"

What kind of fight was the Major walking into?

**Author's Note:** Didn't go the way I intended, but for where the story goes, it really seems as if this is the best place to stop and then start right off on the next chapter with what actually goes down. Which, should push the plot quite a ways forward because we will see our first interaction between the Captain and the Major.

I put some effort in to fix Mal's tone. I'm still not 100 pleased with it either. He does need more of a twang, I just have to find the right balance to it. I'm somewhat satisfied with Zoe and Jayne. I worry about how many times I can use 'Gorram' before it's too much for the Hero of Canton though. I thought about spelling his quotes as they would sound, but that can be a bit annoying to some folks, so I held off on it. River could be more crazy, more random.

Promise you'll get plenty of Kaylee and Simon in the next chapter. The crew splits in two with two different missions, so we will get to have Ms. Strawberry and the Doctor soon enough, I hated not having them in this chapter. I miss my little mechanic! Lol. BTW, the Pilot could be played by Kevin Corrigan (Grounded for Life). Well, until next time, Travelers...


	3. Planning A Feces Hurling Contest

**Author's Note:** Wow, I can't believe it's been this long. I am terribly sorry guys. I just hit the 'I can't believe it's a new semester!' point and suddenly things like eating and sleeping became optional. So, you can imagine where 'continuing my fan-fiction story' fell to on my priority list as of late. Luckily, I made it through with minimal scrapes, like a true Browncoat. And things like mating with random and slightly attractive women and continuing my fan-fiction story are back towards the top of my priority list.

The good news is that I've pretty much mapped out the next few chapters of our story, so we should have little delays. For pacing purposes, I'm going to hold off on posting them all at once. When we last left off, the story was finally beginning. Hayes was on his way to Ferras to counter the crew of Serenity, and hopefully this will bring us to the heart of our story.

In case some of you are leaning away, I'm going to drop a few hints as to where the story will go, hopefully entice you to stick around. For one, I intend to connect Hayes to a member of the Serenity Family via a connection in their past. Whom? Wait and see. Friendships and Relationships will be tested, some will be created. Inara and Mal? Mal and somebody else? We'll have to wait and see. My original intentions have changed a bit thanks to a conversation with one of the guys that left a review, you know who you are.

Chapter 3 - Planning A Feces Hurling Contest

_Hayes left the cockpit to catch some sleep. Ferras was only another 20 or so hours away, and he needed to be at 100% when they arrived. But he couldn't help but think about the comments his pilot made._

_"[Mal Reynolds] was the kind of guy you'd follow into a fight for sure..."_

_Just what kind of fight was he walking into?_

The young Mr. Hayes sat and pondered this very thought for the next few hours. He had heard that the Operative that his superiors sent couldn't seal the deal with Reynolds and his band of misfits. If a trained Operative could be swayed to let them go, something must have been left unsaid when Hayes was given this assignment.

Why did they have to be so damn vague?

All they would tell him was that the Tam's stole secrets, and the rest of the crew helped broadcast that wave about Miranda. True or not, Hayes was no rookie. He knew of the Reavers, he knew that the Alliance wanted to keep their existence quiet. He was honestly sickened when he saw the so called recording of that woman explaining what they did with the Pax.

When he asked General Kontos about the matter, Kontos denied the allegations. Claimed that the whole thing was staged. But thats not what Hayes had heard from others, others that recalled the terra-forming calls for labor and the like. Others that recalled never hearing from the people that took up the call ever again. Alliance dispatched a team to secure Miranda, and now it was illegal to so much as fly within a days ride of the planet. Not that anyone would venture that far out in the first place anyways.

But still, this whole situation was starting to feel odd in the pit of his stomach.

His pilot said Reynolds was some kind of good guy. Just a Browncoat looking for work. Hayes could understand that. He had met enough veterans of the Unification War to know that both sides had a good enough reason to fight. The way his own bosses acted about the situation, it was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Since when did a doctor within the top three percent in medicine become some kind of terrorist? And a girl with a brother like that? A rich family like the Tams? Becomes some kind of terrorist too? And Kontos was so secretive, so vague about what the threat truly was.

And the rest of the crew, they seemed as unthreatening as folk get. One thug with low level trouble here, a girl from some prairie world that ended up becoming the mechanic somehow, one of Reynolds' old vets from the war, and an Alliance registered Companion. Talk about the wrong group to try and overthrow the Alliance with.

This wasn't sitting well with Major Jonathan Hayes at all, and well, Mal Reynolds wasn't sitting at all.

Nope, the Captain was too busy pacing outside Inara Serra's shuttle. He hadn't meant to yell quite as loud as he did, in fact, he didn't mean to yell at all. Jayne was yelling in one ear, Zoe in the other, and he just snapped at her.

"Why couldn't you keep your whoring at bay for once?"

He knew it was a terrible thing to say. He knew that he was the one that told her that it was about time somebody got back to their normal life and got their pay flow going again. And yet, he said it. Inara broke into tears, and went to her shuttle. He knew it wasn't her fault, how was she supposed to know that the Alliance would do something like this? Even he had the false hope that this would just flitter on past them, never bother to slow them down or give them anymore trouble than need be.

In true Captain Reynolds fashion, he bit the bullet and went to get his face smashed in.

Walking through the door, uninvited as usual, Mal found Inara sitting on the floor against her bed. Her makeup had run all down her face and she was exhausted from what appeared to be a shuttle smashing party, if he didn't feel so guilty, he'd have to have a talk with her about that.

"'Nara, what are you doing down there" he asked softly.

She barely registered that he was there, so he leaned down to help her up. He sat her on the bed, and quickly tried his best to wipe the running makeup off her face. After a few wipes, he whispered his apology.

"Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you, you didn't deserve that."

The Companion turned her head to look at him, "I did, I'm a fool. I brought the Alliance down on all of us."

The Captain chuckled. "Umm, I'm pretty sure I'm the one that brought them Purple Bellies down on us. I reckon this little 'I aim to misbehave' speech I gave before we decided to run a couple boats full of Reavers and the like down the Alliance's throat back at Mr. Universe's place."

"But I let them find us now!"

"'Nara, they were going to find us anyhow. Might not of been now, but it would have been at some point. That's just the way it is, and it's not like we knew this was going to happen. I thought they'd either leave us be, or they'd take my head right after they took off Simon and that pain we've got flying this heap. We didn't know that we'd all become terrorists" explained Mal, hoping she'd see reason.

Inara appeared to be considering all of this.

"'Sides, I've already got a plan" he quipped with a smirk on his face. Inara simply rolled her eyes and fell back on the bed.

With a smirk, he just had to let his mouth open.

"Umm, not that kind of plan...", but she didn't even have the strength to slap him.

In fact, she was asleep. The Captain pulled the covers up and over her, and went to meet with Zoe, Jayne, and River. The trio had started to work on the kinks in the plan that Mal created.

"He's not going to come in with a plan" said Shelton, one of the advisors that General Kontos chose to send with Hayes.

Hayes exhaled for what felt like hundredth time since this meeting began. Shelton and the rest of the staff were convinced that Reynolds would walk into the trap like a dumb animal in the woods.

"Reynolds was in Serenity Valley. Reynolds survived Serenity Valley. He knows how war works-" started Hayes, but was cut-off.

"This isn't war. This is an ambush on a little station moon" said Shelton.

"He is going to see this coming. The second the warrants popped up on the cortex, he saw them. Trust me. No question about it. He's going to see them, and he's going to know the seriousness of our assault. He is going to know the Companion has appointments, and he is going to assume that they tipped us off. But assuming he hasn't stopped anywhere since being patched up, he will be forced to dock on Ferras. If he assumes that we will be there waiting for him, he will have a plan" finished the Major.

The staff went silent.

Shelton finally spoke up. "You are over estimating Reynolds. He is a common criminal."

"Yeah, that's why we've got bounty hunters a plenty gunning for them. That's why I'm here. Because Reynolds and his crew are just common criminals that stumbled upon Miranda and the Tam's" snapped Hayes.

Shelton finally shut up.

"Now, like I was saying. According to the men that have arranged meetings with the Companion, we will have about a day on Serenity before they land on Ferras. We need to know that we can bring them in. The General has made it very clear that the Alliance will not tolerate losing them again. We have to acquire the Tams at the least, Reynolds, and then the remainder of the crew" said Hayes.

Hayes wasn't stupid, and he granted the Captain of Serenity enough respect to know he wouldn't be either. Reynolds would know that the trap would be sitting there waiting for him, so he will have a counter-plan. Hayes needed a plan to counter the counter plan.

"I say the second they land, put a lock on their ship, land lock them from Port Control. We use the local police to surround the ship, take it by storm. Now, I would imagine that Reynolds will anticipate this, and have some sort of plan to get around us. That's why we need to have a separate group of uniforms to take him down when he reappears on the radar" planned Hayes.

The techy took this opportunity to speak up. "Schematics show two shuttles, one belonging to the Whore-"

"Companion, not whore, companion" cut in Hayes.

The techy had a look of panic. "I'm sorry sir, the Companion. She owns one of the shuttles. If Reynolds intends to separate from the ship during the landing process, he could use one of the shuttles, sir."

"Good work, I thought of this as well. We will need some air-support, but I hear it's in limited supply on Ferras. One ship, I believe?" asked Hayes.

"Correct, the moon is primarily used for fill-ups and supplies, so the local police deemed it redundant to use their funds to purchase and maintain an air-support vehicle. There are several land vehicles however, I count seven hover-crafts in operation at this time." said one of the advisors.

Hayes nodded. That wasn't a whole lot of support, but he would take what he could get. He just hoped it would be enough, after the fury he had seen when the Operative failed to do his mission, Hayes was sure he never wanted to to find out what would happen if he failed.

"And thats the plan!" shouted Mal, banging his fist on the table and sporting a large grin.

The crew just stared.

"What?" he asked.

"Sir, that's the plan?" asked Zoe.

Jayne closed his eyes, silently praying as Sheppard Book had taught him, hoping that wasn't the plan. Please god, let that not be the plan.

"Of course it's the plan!" said the Captain.

"Gorram it" muttered Jayne.

"What? Why's everybody making a fuss?" asked Mal.

"It's just-" started Zoe.

"Boob" finished River.

Mal's mouth hit the floor. "Come on! Simon, you like the plan don't you?"

Simon simply couldn't make words come out of his mouth, no matter how many times he opened and shut it. Kaylee simply rubbed his arm, "It's ok Simon, go ahead and tell the Captain how he sounds like he is about to gun HOE-tze bee DIO-se (engage in a feces hurling contest with a monkey)."

"Kaylee!"

"Sorry Cap, you should of heard the plan from where I'm sitting" said Kaylee with a sorry smile on her face.

The Captain starts muttering to himself, "Spend fifteen minutes making a grand plan, everybody's gotta make a fuss."

"Twelve."

Everyone turns to River.

"You only spent twelve minutes making a grand plan."

Mal glares at her, "Thank you, Little One. Always so very..... helpful."

River closes her eyes, grins wide, and arches her eyebrows. Looking very pleased with herself, and scaring Jayne a bit. She senses this, and decides to open her eyes very wide and stare at him and lean towards him. He jumps out of his seat and moves to the other end of the table, she once again looks very pleased with herself.

"Would you two stop it already? We need to make a plan here" says Zoe.

"I made a plan!" shouts the Captain.

Zoe corrects herself, "I'm sorry, we need to make a good plan here."

Mal rolls his eyes and head, sighing very dramatically.

"I think the only way this is going to work, is if we all pitch in..." started the First-Mate.

20 or so hours passed, and Zoe managed to construct a plan that didn't involve entirely flying by the seat of their pants, though that was not all together out of the plan. As Serenity descended into the atmosphere of Ferras, everyone got into position. On Ferras, Hayes and all of his men were already in position ready to try and intercept the Browncoat filled vessel. Unfortunately for our young Major Hayes, he only had one ship for air-support. And shortly after entering Atmo, two shuttles separated from the ship.

"Ohh, gos se (shit)." muttered Hayes.

**Author's Note:** I hate that I took so long to update this. I honestly feel horrible about it, like I don't deserve to have people read it. But, umm, I wouldn't be against you guys being like, amazingly awesome, like, borderline Firefly-Awesome, and reading anyways! As our favorite Captain would say, "Yeah, but that ain't exactly Plan A!"


	4. Ferras

**Author's Note:** Four months? Really? I'm a horrible writer, you guys should string me up like a witch and burn me at a stake. Only to have some awesome folks come and save me, because I'm _their_ witch. If only...

Well, to be honest, I have a legit excuse: my computer got fried. Yep, somehow, in the middle of mid-terms, my computer just burned up. And considering that money is tight, I couldn't buy a new one and I've had to use Library computers up until just two weeks ago, my fanfic had fallen to the wayside. But have no fear, because I have returned to add a new chapter prior to finals.

We left off with our very esteemed Major Jonathan Hayes watching two shuttles depart from Serenity, with Serenity of course still flying, during his attempt to capture our seven very special passengers of a Firefly Class vessel. Let's just go ahead and jump back into the fun...

Chapter 4 - Ferras

_On Ferras, Hayes and all of his men were already in position ready to try and intercept the Browncoat filled vessel. Unfortunately for our young Major Hayes, he only had one ship for air-support. And shortly after entering Atmo, two shuttles separated from the ship._

_"Ohh, gos se." muttered Hayes._

"Ohh, gos se!" shouted Zoe. She was struggling with the controls on Shuttle 1, causing both Kaylee and Simon to fidget a bit nervously. It had been a while since Wash took her out in the shuttle to teach her the finer points of being a leaf on the wind.

"Does she...." started Simon.

"Doctor, I can still shoot you from here" hissed Zoe.

"....know what a great job she's doing?" gulped Simon.

"Better."

Meanwhile, River was of course the Ace Pilot that she was, using her genius mind to adapt quite well to flying the Firefly they called home. In fact, since she had something to focus so completely on, she was having less trouble with her mind wandering. Simon went far enough to call it therapeutic. The plan was for Simon, Zoe, and Kaylee to go and try for fuel and a few special supplies while Mal, River, and Jayne attempted to lure the Alliance away.

It appeared to be working, as the lone air-support ship that they had at their disposal came rocketing after them.

"Would you look at that, somebody must think we're awful pretty, they're following us something fierce" said the Captain.

"Ah, well you know Mal, I sure like to keep up appearances" quipped Jayne, earning both a chuckle from the Browncoat and a giggle from the Pilot.

"It's the chiseled jaw" sounded from the Albatross, leaving Mal to wonder just how much she had read from that ole mind of his about his past.

Down on the ground, Hayes was getting his report.

"We have heat signatures on all three ships. Both shuttles seem to have three a piece, while there is one remaining person on Serenity itself piloting the ship, and it appears that Serenity will shoot right past the docks. Probably to land elsewhere, but we don't have the support to chase it" reported an Alliance Tech.

"They must have assumed we'd check heat signatures. Our information shows only Reynolds featuring piloting experience, but obviously Serra knows how to fly a shuttle. That leaves us one mystery guest piloting the third ship, and with that comes the assumption that we don't really know who is capable of what. Use the majority of our resources to track the shuttles, I'm willing to bet that one is a diversion and one is here to acquire the fuel cells they need" ordered Hayes.

"We have our air-support following Shuttle 2, it made sense at the time based on projections. How would you like to proceed? Shall we continue pursuit or alter course for Shuttle 1?" asked the Tech.

The Major seemed to think this over before making a gut decision.

"Go after Shuttle 1. If we were following the wrong shuttle, I would imagine they'd have went with Plan B by now, whatever that may be."

Back on Shuttle 2, Jayne noticed the Alliance ship veering off course.

"Umm, Mal? That hwun dan purple-belly ship is bailing..."

The Captain rushed to River to observe the nav-screen and the radar.

"Damn, they're going after Zoe" breathed Reynolds.

"What does that mean for us?" questioned the Merc.

The Albatross and Mal exchanged glances, then smirks.

"It's time to misbehave."

Back on Shuttle 1, Kaylee was struggling to understand how making a scene would get them off their back.

"The rewards go Simon and River, the Captain, and then the rest of us. River and the Captain show off their faces, they'll have no choice but to chase them, there's no way to know if Simon is with us or the lone body back on Serenity, they have to chase them." answered Zoe.

Back on Shuttle 2.

"And what if they chase a little too hard and things get tetchy? Then what? Gotta a big masterful plan, Moonbrain?" questioned Jayne.

"Well, hopefully that doesn't happen" answered Mal.

The Hero of Canton knew what that meant. "And if it does?"

"It won't" replied the Captain.

"But if it does?" growled the Merc.

River sighed, "Ordered other birdy to go back to the nest alone."

"WHAT!" exploded Jayne.

"You trying to help?!" exclaimed Reynolds.

"No, but face goes red like a tomato!" quipped the Albatross.

Mal looked back at his merc, whom was cursing various things and people.

"Huh."

Down in the streets of Ferras, there were Alliance officers on ever corner. They were keeping eyes peeled, because both shuttles had landed and there was little question that the passengers would come looking for new fuel cells or other supplies. Officer James Hewitt was at the corner of Casey and Walker, and was on the look out for anything suspicious when something suspicious walked up right behind him.

"'ey there little fella, I'm a looking for a good ole time. Can you conjure up the name of the best honkey-town planet-side?" asked a man wearing a red shit and a brown coat whom appeared to be in a right state of drunkeness.

"Umm, town's on lock down, so, you best go back to your ship, sir" answered Hewitt.

"Hey, ain't that there a radio? Regular ole talkey-talk?" grabbing the radio off his belt.

Before Hewitt could say a word, he was kicked in the back of the head.

"Ah River, that little fella was just doing his job" said Captain Mal Reynolds. Mal took the radio and began his broadwave.

"Look here, Alliance Brass fancy pants, we're kinda low on fuel, and we were hoping to solve that minor issue on this rock. Ain't that right, Little One?"

"Shi Captain, we're mighty tight on the go-juice. Gotta get our rocket flying again" quipped River on the radio.

Way over near the landing site of Shuttle 1, Major Hayes' head jerked over so fast that he cricked his neck and had to reach back on his neck. He grabbed the nearest radio.

"Captain Reynolds? This is Major Jonathan Hayes."

"Hayes, is it? Well, ain't that shiny? A Major. We had an Operative last time, ain't that a demotion?" questioned Mal.

"You will not make it off this moon, you should turn yourself in while you still can" reasoned Hayes, before hitting the mute button and turning to the Tech he had been working with. "Can you track this?"

The Tech stuttered for a few seconds before nodding, "I can scan the radio frequencies, target the radios in use, but you have to keep him on the line."

Hayes nodded.

"Won't make it off the moon? That sounds a mite like you're threatening us, or at least doubting us. Ain't you heard? We're big damn heroes over here on Casey street" replied the Captain.

Hayes made the order in a split second, he knew his orders.

"Everyone diverge on that area, now!" called Hayes, jumping into the nearest hovercraft. "Big Damn War Heroes, right? Serenity Valley?"

"Does my profile just have Serenity Valley stamped on the first page? The first word out of all your gorram mouths is about Serenity Valley."

Hayes had to smile, because the fact of the matter was that Serenity Valley was mentioned in the first paragraph of Reynolds' profile.

"Well, that Miranda stunt you pulled is quickly becoming your calling card" answered Hayes.

"Well now, you say that like you don't firmly believe what we had to say was true."

"My superiors have a thing or two to say about your claims, you know."

"Yeah? I've got a thing or two to say about your superiors. I gotta a girl here that's had her brain all kinds of meddled with, and they're the ones that put the orders through to do it. Real aiya heroes, them Parliament folk. Take a poor girl from a school and cut her up something fierce."

Hayes didn't know how to respond. Was he refering to River Tam? Hayes received notice that they were getting close to where the radio signal was coming from.

"Is that so? How can anyone take your word for truth when you're wanted for stealing secrets?"

"Stealing secrets? You mean the secrets they put in her head? That don't sound like stealing to me."

That right there about stopped Hayes in his tracks. Truth be told, he'd heard rumors of a program where the Alliance recruited select students from the top schools to train. He'd heard tell of the physic capacity in these programs. Could _recruited_ mean _taken_? Had River Tam been one of those select students? No. Kontos would have told him if that were the case, that's crucial information.

"How about this, how about we bring you in, and you explain your case to my superiors" challenged Hayes.

He got nothing but silence in return. But the Tech had informed him that they had tracked the radio, and were about to reach it. But he couldn't help but have a slight twinge of worry that the Captain wasn't completely untruthful.

When they came around a corner to where the tracker indicated the radio was, they found it tied to another radio with the talk buttons down, and they knew that they had been had. Wherever Captain Reynolds was, he was using another radio to talk to the Major. In fact, he was pretty sure that he was heading exactly where nearly the entire Alliance team had just left.

"Hey there Zoe, looks like your plan wasn't half bad after all, did you get the new Fuel Cells?" asked the Captain as he, River, and Jayne made their way to meet Zoe, Simon, and Kaylee.

"Yeah, we should be full and ready to go once Kaylee plugs them in." answered Zoe.

"And the Air-Support?" questioned Mal.

"When they landed, Kaylee managed to sneak aboard and muck up their works, I don't think they'll be a problem. But we've got Alliance Ground Support coming in hot, we need to get back to the Shuttle and off this rock as quickly as possible, sir" responded Zoe.

"_The_ Shuttle, I'm sure am going to miss having two, proven to be mighty handy" said Reynolds.

"Well, it's a ways away, so we best get on the move, sir" replied Zoe.

The group of six began their journey to Serenity's last shuttle when they heard the sirens. Before they knew it, they were running. And before they knew it, shots were being fired when they were just within thirty yards of the shuttle.

"Please, oh please, tell me you brought them this time" asked Mal.

Jayne literally shook with excitement as he removed grenades from his satchel. "Zoe, Kaylee, you first."

Tossing two for cover, Zoe and Kaylee ran for the ship, making it just before the gunfire. Hayes saw, and figured out the plan before Mal would get a second shot to send people to the ship. Hayes quickly ordered his team to open fire as soon as the second grenade hit, and before River or Simon could make it inside the ship, gunfire quickly ensued.

River managed to avoid it all, but Simon took a bullet to the upper chest and to the thigh. River quickly pulled Simon to cover, while Mal watched and was unable to do a thing. Sharing a look with Jayne, the Captain promptly did what he does best: create a diversion.

Jayne laid down cover fire and Mal got close enough to create havoc, taking on three soldiers while Jayne threw a grenade into the other group of soldiers accompanying Hayes in order to give River a chance to drag Simon into the Shuttle and finally for Jayne to reach safety as well.

Mal exchanged his last right handed punch and quickly dove into an alley. Hayes gave chase, chasing Mal into a building and up some stairs.

"You know, you're going to get them all killed sooner or later. Just like Hoban Washburne, and probably Simon Tam just now!" shouted Hayes up the flight of stairs.

Mal listened, continued to run, but listened. Suddenly all he could think about was how he had gotten Sheppard Book killed too.

"The longer you run, the more pain you will inflict on your crew. Who will be next? River Tam? Or maybe your war buddy Zoe Washburne? How about that little mechanic you're so close to? Kaylee Frye? You're bringing your entire crew to destruction, including yourself, by running!" yelled Hayes, trying to find that button that will make the Captain make a mistake. Anything, because this was going terribly bad as is.

But Reynolds kept running. He made it to the roof, where he stood at the ledge, hoping they got the shuttle off the ground and were coming to get him.

_Click_.

Mal turned to see Hayes standing right behind him, and Mal was right in the cross-heirs.

"They'll never be safe. They'll always be hunted until you give yourself up. How much more blood will you allow to be spilt?" said Hayes.

But in that moment, that's when Mal heard the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard. The soft rumbling of his shuttle. So in a split second, Mal fired on the Major, missed, but made Hayes hit the ground to avoid the shot. The Shuttle pulled to the ledge, he climbed in, and off they went as a battalion of Alliance Soldiers joined Hayes on the roof and opened fire on the Shuttle before Hayes ordered them to stop.

"I need them alive. A wreck of fire and metal won't do me any good" said Hayes as he watched the Shuttle fly away. 'There will be another time...' he thought to himself.

Meanwhile on the Shuttle on it's way to finding Serenity, Simon was on the ground bleeding with River and Kaylee trying to stop the bleeding. Kaylee looked up at him with her eyes full of tears.

"Capt'n, we can't stop the bleeding! We...we can't stop...we can't" she sobbed.

And while Mal watched his doctor on the floor in pain, all he could think about was that this was the second time Simon was shot because of his decision.

And that he possibly could join Wash on the list of casualties.

Along with Book.

'And like Hayes said, _you're going to get them all killed sooner or later_.' thought Mal. He'd always believed that there was a bullet out there for everybody, and that the trick really was to die of old age before it found you.

But he never imagined he'd be the reason it found so many people he cared about.

**Author's Note:** A note on the fuel cells, I know that over the course of the series, we've heard about "Fueling Stations", so in my mind, there are cells or tanks so to speak that fuel would go into, but in this case, it would be like buying new tanks as I imagine that the technology would work kind of like a fuel cell in Arnold's Terminator in the third Terminator film. I know, it's probably a stretch, but it makes the situation work, lol.

So this one ends on more of a downer note. Which is intended. Because this will cause the story to take the turn that I have been so excited to go into and will open up the bulk of the story. Like some of Book's past for instance? The key to that door in my story relies on these events. So, give me some feedback. It wasn't as good as the original copy that was on my pre-fried computer, I had to write from memory. And I'm sad I didn't work more of the other characters in, but it was nice to get some of the Mal-Hayes stuff down, because it will be important later.

This guilt trip really fuels Mal's future actions, and as Hayes learns the truth, it will fuel his actions as well.


	5. Monty To The Rescue

**Author's Note:** Alrighty, who is ready for chapter five? Some serious angst in this one. But, like I mentioned before, it's going to send the story in the direction I would like to go. Thanks for everybody sticking around, supporting the story. I promise more consistent updates!

Chapter 5 - Ferras

Simon was on the ground bleeding with River and Kaylee trying to stop the bleeding. Kaylee looked up at him with her eyes full of tears.

"Capt'n, we can't stop the bleeding! We...we can't stop...we can't" she sobbed.

It was in this moment that it all crashed down on Mal's shoulders. In this moment, all he could see were the horrible things that had come from his very own decisions. Kaylee getting shot just after he chose to bring passengers on board Serenity for extra money. Almost getting the whole crew killed when the Reavers chased them clear off Whitefall and barely getting away thanks to some mighty fine luck. Getting Inara into a whole heap a trouble with that Atherton Wing nut.

He could almost feel the fire on his face the day that Simon and River almost got burned at the stake, or the pure fear he felt when his very own wife nearly killed every last person on his boat after the whole "Goodnight Kiss" incident. Or how he tried to save a couple credits and not replace the compression coil that once again nearly cost his entire crew their lives. Or when Niska came back looking after they made a right mess of the Train Job, nearly got Wash killed, and that was of course before he actually was killed when Mal chose to go flying in against the Alliance.

Sitting there with Tracy back on St Alban's came flying to the fore-front. Along with Nadi's downfall when they ventured into matters that had nothing to do with him or his crew, it wouldn't be stretch to say that his actions led to her death, and he shot Tracy outright. Jubal Early made a nice fuss in the middle of the night and it took days to get Kaylee to stop screaming in her sleep. Mr Universe, Book, Wash, and a couple dozen contacts gone when Mal had to fight an Operative of the Alliance and then try and cause a whole uproar with the Miranda Wave.

_Every minute you keep River Tam from me, more people will die. _That's what the Operative said.

Simon got shot, Kaylee was hurt, and River had to do her magic against a whole room of Reavers to leave 'em able to see another day.

_The longer you run, the more pain you will inflict on your crew. You're bringing your entire crew to destruction_. Those were Hayes' words.

There was no doubt that plenty of blood was spilt, and only luck saved more from being spilt thanks to Mal Reynolds' actions and choices.

And now, the man that's supposed to take bullets out of his crew is writhing on the floor with a bullet in him. Knowing there was nothing he could do, Mal ran to the com to try and get ahold of Inara.

"Inara! Simon is....he's hurt, bad. We need to get back to Serenity ma-Shong!" shouted the Captain.

They found their way to Serenity quickly enough, and hit full burn anywhere but Ferras. Jayne and Mal carried Simon to the infirmary, hoping that Zoe had done enough side-kicking over the last while that she'd be able to help Simon the best that she could. Mal even piloted the ship in hopes that River would be free to do something, anything to help Zoe. He quickly stormed off, leaving everyone in his wake completely clear that he was definitely not ok about the matter.

He had been on the bridge for longer than he could remember, mostly because it felt like an eternity, but it was probably just hours. He hadn't spoken to a soul since he told River to help Zoe and he walked off to the bridge. He couldn't be there right now, he had to get ready. He had to be a captain and lead his crew, no matter how horrible of a captain he was at that moment in time.

"The wind blows north, I go northernly. Maybe that ain't a man to lead but they gotta follow" he once said, and it's just as true now as it was then.

"Err, Mal?" came from behind.

The Captain turned to see Jayne standing in the doorway. Mal gave him a look, as if asking him to continue.

"Err, Zoe and the moonbrain? They told me to come tell you the doctor's stable, and umm, they were hoping you'd stop by when you got a chance?" said Jayne, who was clearly uncomfortable having to speak with the Captain about the matter.

"I'll be there when I can" replied Mal.

"Got it" said Jayne as he quickly left the bridge.

The Captain did his best to compose himself, running his hands through his hair and trying shake the thoughts out of his head before making his way to the infirmary, which truth be told was the last place in the 'verse he wanted to be just that moment. When he came down the stairs, he could see Kaylee in a ball on the couch. It broke Mal's heart to see her in so much pain, it broke a little more when he realized he put Simon in fires way. Turning into the infirmary, Mal saw both Zoe and River watching over the latter's sibling.

"Sir, he's stable, but we're not out of the woods just yet. River and I reckon the bullet didn't hit anything serious, but that don't make this unserious" said Zoe.

Mal nodded, taking it in. They wanted to go to a hospital, but that just wasn't going to work.

"Shi. Greenleaf if closest, but has significant Alliance presence. We'd never get him in and out alive" said River, reading the Captain's mind. Clearly his second-in-command and his pilot had already had this conversation.

Another nod, and then a long bout of silence from the Captain.

"Sir?" asked Zoe.

Mal looked up, for some reason, he just couldn't mind the ability to speak. All he could think about was the pain he must have caused these two women. Zoe was a widow thanks to him, and River was on the verge of losing the only family she's had since she was a kid.

"Monty" was all Mal said.

This time, even River wasn't sure what he meant.

"I'll get on the horn, last time I saw him, he said he had a brand new medic. Mighty shiny doctor, we'll see if we can borrow him and patch up the Doc" said Mal before turning and leaving.

River looked at Zoe, almost telepathicly communicating her worry over the Captain. River had never seen Mal in such a state, and Zoe hadn't seen him this way since the war. Zoe took off her gloves and made her way after him, River stayed behind to continue to look after her brother.

"Sir!" shouted Zoe through the kitchen, Mal was already making his way to bridge again. She picked up the pace, shouting another "Sir" before he turned around to see what she wanted.

"Sir, are you ok?" asked the First-Mate.

Mal frowned at her, quickly and confidently giving her an "Of course" before going to the controls.

"It's not your fault." she quickly said.

"Excuse me?" asked the Captain.

"I've seen you like this before, back on Kalosh? We lost thirty three men on that rock, and you took all kinds of guilt to heart over it. I remember you blaming yourself and the look on your face, isn't a whole lot different than the one you had back on Ferras." said Zoe.

Mal seemed to be taking these words in, but secretly he was trying to decide wether to defend his guilt or keep pretending like he felt nothing.

"Well?" questioned Zoe.

"Zoe, you don't understand."

"Then explain it."

"If I get shot, or Jayne, or even you, that's one thing. I'd feel all kinds of bad about it, but we put our own 'selves there. He's a doctor. He has no place in gunfire and I keep putting 'em there! Have you ever stopped to think about how much blood I've been spilling? How much harm I've put you and my crew through? I'm the Captain, I been the one making the choices that been leading to that! DONG-luh-MAH?" shouted Mal.

Even though she was expecting a fight, she wasn't expecting to see him like this. She'd been through so much with him, seen him in all kinds of pain and hurt, but this was different.

"Sir, we joined this crew on our own free will. We're all on this boat by choice. No matter what happens, we chose this life." said Zoe.

"That's where you got it wrong. River? Doc? They didn't choose this gorram life, they got thrown into it. Had no choice. I was supposed to keep 'em safe, keep 'em off the radar. They wanted more than ever now. Now I got a call to make, I may have gotten him into this, but I sure as hell ain't gunna leave him sitting." replied the Captain turning to the com.

Zoe realized that this was Mal's way of saying the conversation was over.

"Mal! You old dog! I didn't think I'd hear from you anytime soon. Heard you got yourself in a right situation" boomed an old Browncoat through the com system.

"Yeah, well, I'm in an even worse one now. I got a man hurt in a bad way, but I can't hit any of the med-stops with this kind of heat on us. You said you had a new medic last time 'round, some kind of good. Think you can spare him to lend us a hand?" asked Mal.

Monty scratched his regrown soup-catcher, thinking on the possibility of bring heat on himself by helping his old friend.

"You know what? Once a Browncoat, always a Browncoat. And a Browncoat always has his brother's back, send me your cordinates, we'll find a way to make this happen. How long your boy have?" asked Monty.

"I honestly don't know. Fact of the matter is he's our medic, we just barely got him stable. 'Voided anything major, but that don't mean nothing in the long run as we both know" said the Captain.

"That I do know. Alright, let's try and make something happen. I'll get my boys pointed in your direction on the double" said Monty.

Mal nodded, and turned off his com but continued to stare at the screen.

"Sir-" started Zoe.

"Don't start. Please. Just go help River look after her brother. We'll figure this out soon enough" said Mal.

It took nearly two days, but Mal and Monty finally met up. Monty's medic, Woody, managed to get Simon up and talking, but he'd need a few more days of rest before he could be up and walking around. This didn't change anything for Mal, he still had taken the latest close call for his crew to heart. Zoe even tried to get Monty to talk to him about it, but Mal wouldn't have any of it.

"I've known you since you were a kid, I ain't ever seen you like this, Mal" said Monty.

"Look, you've been there a lot for me, but this time, ain't nobody gunna make me see it any other way. There's been a serious error in my captaining, I've been putting my folks in harms way when they ain't need to be" said Mal.

"Well, I've seen you like this alright, and I can tell well enough that you're not going to budge, so I ain't gunna press" replied Monty.

"I'll take that as a kindness."

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"Heard from Bridget lately?" asked Monty.

"Ching-wah TSAO duh liou mahng...." said the Captain.

After a few more days, Simon was up and walking around. Monty, his medic, and his crew took their leave and it was time for Serenity to map their plan for the relatively near future.

"We're going to Nakamura next. I know a place where we can hide out, hopefully let some of the heat drop off." announced Mal. "It's one of the furtherest out planets on the outer rim, there won't be an Alliance trouble."

Everyone gathered around the table seemed to accept this, but Simon remained when the rest of the table left. Mal looked at his doctor, and couldn't help but wonder if this would be the moment where Simon would let our his fury for getting him shot yet again.

"Captain, I was hoping I would be able to have a word with you."

"Speak your piece."

Simon looked down, "I wanted to let you know that I do not blame you for my injury. I do not blame you for anything that has occurred on this ship since I've come aboard. You took me and my sister in when we had no where else to go. You've protected her from the Alliance and despite your own good and the fact that you would have been better off without us on board. And, I guess, I just wanted to say thank you, because I know that you've taken this whole experience pretty hard."

"Well, that was mighty nice of you to say Simon, but there's no need to thank me. I'm just sorry that I haven't been able to do a better job at protecting you two. We made a deal that day back when we were headin' off Whitefall, I look to see it through. I ain't been doing my part all that shiny, I aim to rectify that" said the Captain.

The Captain and the Doctor stood up, shook hands, and made their way down to the living area. Unfortunately for them, they came upon a sight where two men had Kaylee, Inara, River, Zoe, and Jayne cornered and asking where the Captain was...

**Author's Note:** Ah, the cliff hanger. Don't you love cliff hangers? Well, truth be told this is really one chapter that was too long so I split it into two chapters. I promise to make up for the lack of River, Kaylee, and Inara in this chapter with the next chapter, because they will be crucial to how we attempt squeeze out of this jam. And yes, these men are the bounty hunters we talked about in the first chapter, but haven't seen yet. You didn't think I'd forget about them, did you?

Also, no Major Jonathan Hayes in this chapter. He will barely be in the next chapter too, but he will almost be entirely in the sixth chapter, so we'll be making up for it yet again. Who else was happy to see ole Monty? I know I was, and I know it's not the last we've seen of him. I will also say that this was not the last that we will see of Mal's concern over his choices as Captain as the Operative and Hayes' words get into his head. But all in due time my friends. Have fun, hopefully we get the announcement today that CHUCK will be back next season!

Ma-shong - Now

Shi - Affirmative

DONG-luh-MAH? - Are we clear here?

Ching-wah TSAO duh liou mahng - frog-humping sonofabitch  



End file.
